In Your Mind
by Shvon
Summary: The challenge: make up a character, have her fall for Malik and him for her, while trying to make her as little of a Mary Sue as possible and also trying not to slaughter the plot and character personalities. Can I manage? Malik/OC. On indefinite hiatus.
1. Lost and Found

**Chapter One – ****Lost and Found**

_Pairings: _Eventual Malik/OC, eventual hints of Yami Malik/OC.

_Rated T for later chapters, just to be safe._

_Author's Note: _I am so nervous posting this… my first fanfiction that I've put up here in a good couple of years.  
_  
_Also! I know I said I'd try to not slaughter any personalities, but…

Sorry if Malik – or anyone else – winds up horridly out of character at times. I was watching Yugioh in Japanese (anything is better than the dub) and the subs were terrible – translated from Japanese to Chinese and then to English, so most of the conversations that actually happened in the show will have improvised scripts, and characters _may_ seem out of character.

I grew up watching the 4Kids dub (_ew_) so the personalities may drift off towards that, as well! Otherwise, enjoy, and _please_ tell me if a character seems blatantly OOC!

* * *

The sands of the desert stretched out for miles and miles. The only sign of life was what _looked_ like a thin, weak boy walking in the sand. He stopped, staring at a faraway silhouette of a pyramid. So far, so far… He lifted up a water bottle to his mouth and shook it, but it was empty. A gasp of thirst escaped his lips. So thirsty, so thirsty…

When he collapsed onto the sand, he didn't notice. He just felt bliss, utter bliss, to be lying there, able to relax at last. His legs were aching terribly. And then – how much time had passed? – voices. They spoke a language he did not understand. The boy thought he could pick out names being said, but he wasn't sure. Then he was aware of nothing at all. There was no one to comfort him… but there _were_ his memories…

*

Elise Matsuki stared into the mirror, a blank look on her face. She hated these tents that she'd had to stay in so often for the past few months. She'd been perfectly happy living in a normal house. But moving every few months, and now this? She missed attending regular school, and her friends, and she missed having a _life_.

Then her parents became archaeologists. She heaved a sigh. Here they were, in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, Egypt, surrounded by sand, more sand, and then even _more_ sand. There was nothing to do, and everyone here was crazy. She couldn't see or talk to real people, her _friends,_ anymore. She didn't even have her old cell phone. They'd sold everything – said it would be basically useless if they were travelling. How is a cell phone _useless_?

She pulled a baseball cap over her hair. She'd recently had it cut short, which had shocked her parents. They'd assumed she loved having her black hair long. She hadn't, really. She'd done it for them, but what had they ever done for her? Now that it was short, her plan could unfold.

With the baggy clothing she had on, which hid what little waist and bust she had, she looked almost exactly like a boy. Elise let out a little squeal of happiness. Her disguise was perfect – her parents, and the others, would be looking for a fifteen-year-old girl, not what looked like a scraggly twelve-year-old boy.

If they went looking for her at all…

She grabbed hold of a water bottle and fastened it to her belt. Her hand hesitated above a necklace she'd received for her birthday. A memory flashed in her mind.

_She'd torn the wrapping paper off, throwing it thoughtlessly onto the floor. It was a necklace – a cute little pink heart with angelic wings coming out of the side. She gasped, a hand flying over her mouth. "Oh, thank you so much!" she said, jumping up and wrapping her arms around her parents. "Thank you so much, maman, papa!"_

_They'd smiled, laughed, hugged her in return. Her mother fastened the necklace around her neck. "It's beautiful," her parents said in unison._

_Elise grinned at them, wrapping a hand around the little winged heart. "I'll wear it with me wherever I go," she'd said, "and it'll remind me that no matter what, I should listen to my heart and it will set me free."_

_Her mother had tousled Elise's hair._

"_Maman!" she'd protested, and everyone wound up laughing…_

She'd worn that necklace non-stop until just yesterday. She'd taken it off when she went to bed. Cutting her hair, taking off the necklace… was she maturing? Biting her lip slightly, she picked up the necklace and put it on. _'Just listen to your heart,'_ she thought, _'you might need this necklace to remind you of that, yet.'_

Finally, she grabbed a plastic bag which contained a few extra clothes (along with her favourite outfit) and her wallet (as if what money she had would come in handy)… just in case. Hiding the necklace under her shirt and hauling the bag over her shoulder, she pushed the tent flap to the side. She gazed outside, glanced around, and heaved a sigh of relief. No one was there. She could make a run for it. She dashed, tripping in the soft sand multiple times, but didn't stop running, not until she was far, far away from that camp.

*

A hand was shaking her shoulder, and prattling on in a very annoyed-sounding, deep voice. She couldn't understand the words… they weren't French or Japanese, the two languages the girl spoke. Elise's eyes flickered open, but she couldn't see anything. For some reason, wherever she was happened to be pitch black.

Was the language Arabic?

"Ah!" exclaimed the voice, still annoyed, then started speaking that strange language again. If it was pitch black, how could the voice tell she was awake? Was she dead?

"Um," she began, sitting up, "_excusez-moi, est-ce que vous me comprenez? Parlez en français ou japonais, s'il vous plait__."_

The voice sighed, but started speaking in Japanese. "Now that you're awake, Malik-sama will want to see you."

Elise blinked in confusion, and as she did so, she felt fabric over her eyes. Ah, so that's why she couldn't see – she had a blindfold of some sort on. It was made of a heavy, thick fabric, and she raised her hands to tug on it.

"I'd suggest not doing that," warned the voice. Elise's hands froze in mid-air. She opened her mouth to ask why, when the voice continued, "Malik-sama doesn't let just anyone see him – not straight away. You might get thrown back, yet."

Oh, so she had to be privileged to see this 'Malik,' whoever he was. The man who had been talking to her grabbed onto her hands and heaved her off the piece of furniture she'd been lying on. She was being dragged somewhere. Where was she going? Even more importantly, where was she currently?

Then, before she knew it, the voice from earlier said, "Malik-sama, here is the boy."

A much younger sounding voice "_hm"_ed, but said no more.

The boy? Elise wondered, and began with a quick, "Ata-" to say _atashi_, then she remembered – she was dressed up as a boy. Atashi was the female version of "I," and she had to try to speak in male words. Oh, no. She shook her head, imagining crazy looking men with raised eyebrows at this "boy's" pronoun confusion, and began again. "I don't know what I'm doing here."

The unnamed voice laughed and pushed her forward. She landed on her knees with a loud cry of pain. The younger voice – Malik? – began to talk.

"I don't assume you remember, boy, but you had fainted in the sand. I don't normally pick up any adolescent I see, but you looked like you had… potential."

"For what?" Elise wondered.

The older voice began explaining. "We're the Ghouls. Rare Hunters, if you will. We search for rare cards, and Malik-sama is our leader."

"R-rare cards?" Elise stuttered, stupidly. Who would be interested in cards? Rare… solitaire… cards? What a strange hobby!

"Duel Monsters cards," Malik retorted.

"… Duel whats?"

Someone sighed. "Rishid," Malik commanded.

A third voice – how many Ghouls were there? – said quickly, "Yes, Malik-sama?"

"Take off the fool's blindfold."

As the fabric fell to the floor, Elise's eyes adjusted slowly to the strange lighting in the room. At the head of the room sat a hooded and robed man, who couldn't have that much older than Elise, she figured. His eyes only looked a few years older, if that. But that was all she could see of him, his eyes. They were a very piercing, deep shade of lavender, and she couldn't pry her eyes away for a good few seconds. Those eyes – they looked like they were staring into her soul. She let out a nervous squeak, lowering her eyes.

Malik let out an irritated-sounding sigh. "What's your name, boy?"

"E-" Elise started, but was unable to come up with a masculine name beginning with the letter _E._ She feigned saying "eh," and tried as quickly as possible to come up with a male name. Elise Matsuki. Matsuki… Matt! "M-my name is Matt."

"Odd name for a boy wandering around Egyptian deserts."

"M-my parents are archaeologists," she admitted. No point in lying about that. "I…"

Six eyes turned to stare at her – Malik's, the man named Rishid's, and the man who'd led her from her room. Elise bit her bottom lip. "I didn't much care for my parents," she continued.

"Well," Malik said with an air of boredom, "either we let you go back out into those sands and you can wander around like a lost, mindless idiot, or you become a Ghoul."

"Wh-what would that entail, er… M-Malik-sama?"

"Simple – you get rare Duel Monsters cards at whatever cost."

"E-even stealing, Malik-sama?"

"Especially stealing."

Elise thought she saw Malik grin, and as he did so, she realized he was holding some kind of strange, golden rod. Brown eyes met those piercing lavender eyes, and she stammered out, "It's either this or I die in the desert?"

No one said anything.

"I…" She wouldn't return to her parents. No, not after all this. Straightening her posture, she nodded. "I'll become a… Ghoul, then."

Malik grinned – smirked? – again. "Perfect…"


	2. Watch and Learn

**Chapter Two**** – Watch and Learn**

_Avion-Exile_: Why, thank you, I'm glad to know you think so!

_Amy_: You have no idea how much your review made my day. :D I hope this next chapter is good, too!

* * *

The robe didn't fit.

Well, it isn't to say that she'd expected it to fit, as it had looked quite baggy on all the other Ghouls walking around, too. But robes look like dresses, and somewhere deep inside her heart, Elise was hoping it would be a wonderful fit.

While she may have looked like a boy, she certainly was still thinking like a girl.

She coughed, and realized how dry her throat was. How long was it since she'd last had water? And where could she even _find_ water in a place like this? Elise still wasn't even sure where, exactly, she was. She had a room, she knew that much, and there was a hallway she'd been led down to Malik's room. Was there a kitchen?

She opened the door to her room and popped her head out into the hallway. Sand had somehow found its way into the hallway, and it swirled around in the air as the door opened, causing her to cough again. '_Dammit,'_ she thought to herself.

The Ghoul from earlier, the one she didn't know the name of, appeared almost out of nowhere as soon as she'd stopped coughing. She jumped.

"Matt," the Ghoul demanded.

Elise managed to stammer out a, now very dry-sounding, "Wh-what?"

"Malik-sama wishes for you to go visit him right now."

"Certainly," Elise rasped, "but do you have any water?"

The Ghoul turned and began walking away.

"Hey!" she called, as best as she could. She didn't manage too well, and yet another bout of coughing followed.

She made her way down the hallway and pushed open the doors to where she knew Malik was.

"Excuse me," she said, "Malik-sama… water."

He ignored her plea for water, just gave her a look that, to her, made her feel like he knew all her secrets. Her knees almost gave way, but that could have just been due to her lack of water rather than fear.

It took her a while to realize Malik was in the middle of talking. "– of course, before you can be of any use to me," he was saying, "you'll have to learn how to play Duel Monsters. Follow me, watch, and learn."

He got up quickly, walked past Elise without waiting for a reply, and kept walking. He didn't even look back to see if she was following. Elise supposed Malik knew she was too scared to disobey him. She hurried after him.

As they passed more and more Ghouls, Elise felt like all of them were prying as far as they could into her mind, so she pulled her hood as far up as it would go. It fell over her eyes, so she had to continuously brush it back up so as to avoid bumping into Malik.

He led her outside. The Ghoul from earlier – the one she _still_ did not know the name of – was waiting there as well. Elise blinked at him.

"Jabari," Malik addressed the man. Elise made a mental note in her mind of the name.

"Yes, Malik-sama?"

Malik handed Jabari a deck of cards. Jabari's eyes, Elise noticed, suddenly looked afraid. How much power did Malik have?

"Matt needs some… lessons."

"Of course, Malik-sama." Jabari had tried to sound as fearless as possible, but Elise heard his voice waver. He turned to walk to one end of a table. A table, in sand, outside?

"And Jabari?" Malik asked. The other man turned to look over his shoulder toward Malik. "Don't act surprised."

Jabari seemed to know what this meant. Elise, however, did not, but by now her throat was so dry she was frightened to speak for fear of losing her voice. Malik seemed to remember, suddenly, that she was there.

"Ah… Matt," he said, turning to her.

She cocked her head in response.

Malik was smirking again. "That advice will come in handy for you, too."

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she nodded.

A Ghoul came up behind her with a glass of water. She turned to thank the man, and noticed his eyes had no shine whatsoever. They were empty, staring blankly at nothing in particular. Taking the glass in her hand and downing its contents, she couldn't help but wonder what she'd got herself into. The empty-eyed Ghoul took the empty glass from her hand and simply turned and walked away. Elise suppressed a shudder.

Malik and Jabari had switched decks and were shuffling them. As they handed the decks back to their respective owners, Elise noted that Jabari was looking afraid again.

Elise stood, watching the two men 'dueling,' as they called it. It seemed easy enough – each player, or 'duelist,' had a deck of Duel Monsters cards; you had to announce certain things; and the goal was to make the other duelist's Life Points reach zero. And she was supposed to steal cards like those? Rare ones?

"My turn. Draw!" Jabari announced a good ten minutes or so into the duel. His hand was shaking, and he drew a card. With shaking fingers, he placed the card along with the others in his hand. "I summon–!" he began. Elise looked up. Storm clouds had gathered. '_Odd_,' she thought, '_why would it be storming in the middle of the desert?_'

Jabari pulled the card he had just drawn out and cried, "I summon the Winged–!"

The wind picked up, swirling around Elise, Jabari, and Malik. Elise coughed, turning to the side and holding up her arm to try and block the sand. Lightning flashed and seemed to strike down Jabari, thunder all too close rumbled… and Jabari screamed.

The scream was cut off midway through. Elise wasn't aware of anything else, just a sudden feeling of dread, and then she heard Malik cry, "Watch out!"

She was knocked back by him, and the two went flying through the air. Elise was aware of landing inside the building they'd been in previously, and then the sound of rocks falling. Elise opened her eyes. She hadn't noticed that they'd been closed. She turned to face Malik. He was staring at the now blocked doorway.

His hood had fallen down when he tackled her, and now his light blond hair was falling messily around his face. His eyes looked terrified, but his face wasn't showing any emotion whatsoever. Elise crawled up against a wall, legs shaking. "What happened out there?" she whispered.

Malik was silent, but brushed some of his hair back.

"He died, didn't he?" her voice was louder now, but she was still nervous. "He's dead now, isn't he? Was that supposed to happen? Did…"

She trailed off, but remembered what Malik had said to Jabari, earlier. It echoed around her head, causing her to stare at him in horror. "_Don't act surprised_," he'd said. He'd told Elise the same applied to her. Jabari had _died_. How was she supposed to not act surprised?

"You…!" she screamed, adrenaline rushing through her. She flung herself at Malik, who was now standing, throwing weak punches at his chest. "You told him not to act surprised! You knew he'd die!"

Malik caught both of her fists in mid-punch. "I was hoping he wouldn't."

Elise's stare of horror turned to disgust.

Malik continued. "The card he had was a counterfeit. Counterfeits of that… particular card… tend to backfire."

"Backfire?" Elise exclaimed. "Backfire? That's the best you can manage? He was _innocent_, Malik-sama! What did he ever do to deserve to die?"

Malik was getting angry now. "It's _your_ fault, then. You're the one who didn't know how to play Duel Monsters."

"You're the one who gave him his deck. You gave him the counterfeit! Stop blaming me for something I couldn't control, Malik-sama!" Elise was trying not to cry. She really wasn't acting too boyish at the moment. "So I didn't know about Duel Monsters, but I did _not_ grow up in a hole in the ground, or whatever you may be think–!"

Malik's grips on her fists tightened. "… a hole in the ground?" he interrupted.

"Malik-sama," she gasped in pain, "you're hurting my hands."

"A hole in the ground."

Releasing her fists at the exact moment Elise pulled back, causing the girl to fall down, Malik turned abruptly and began striding down the hallway.

Tears were streaming down Elise's cheeks, now, but all she could manage to do was stand up and head to her room.


	3. Why

**Chapter Three – Why**

_The Duelist's Heiress: _Thank you! It's good to know I'm doing well with the challenge.

_Amaya the Winged Fox:_ Yes… yes, it did tick him off. And thank you! I hope I can do it. As for the "watch out" part, yes, I'd planned to explain that in this chapter. :D

_Amy_: It may take a tad long for the romance, haha. Hopefully the wait will be worth it. Hopeless romantic as I am, Malik's not going to fall head over heels for this girl in a split second. Especially 'cause of the "hole in the ground" remark. ;D

_Rugrat247_: She _recommended_ the story to you!? … oh wow. O_O And coming from someone who writes many Malik/OC fics, the fact that his personality is spot on means a lot to me. Especially seeing as how I'm re-reading the Artemis Fowl series as I write this, so I've been fretting that Malik is seeming too Artemis-y. So… thank you!

_Author's Note:_ Hm, I'm not sure how much I like this chapter, but I did my best to get what was in my head written out. So sorry if this chapter just seems rushed and overall quite bad… I mean, what, Malik just lets the hole in the ground thing go? Argh! I hate how I handled this, but enough of that…

Also, as a little side note, I'll mainly be using English card names. However, if the change is drastic or just plain stupid, I will use the Japanese name. Some examples are FINAL instead of DEATH, and Slifer instead of Osiris.

As well… I am not entirely sure if the Sennen Rod can read minds (if you Google it, some sites say yes, others say no [plus I tend to tune out somewhat when watching anime, oops!]), but for the sake of this story let's just say it can!

**

* * *

**Malik had spent much too much time wondering why he had bothered to save the girl and why she was dressed as a boy. Females were certainly odd. Why was he even dwelling on it? He had plots based around the Pharaoh to think of.

He hadn't meant "_Oh, Jabari is going to drop dead, don't be afraid_" when he'd said "_Don't be surprised_." He had been planning to tell her about how he could easily read her mind, now that she was a Ghoul, but circumstances had temporarily prevented this.

He'd known she was female. Of course he had. And her name was Elise Matsuki – _Mat_suki, hence Matt. But apart from that, he had no connection to her, no real need for her life, and yet, there he was, flinging himself at her to save her.

And he'd been trying to force himself to believe he didn't know why he'd saved her. There had been a split second where, as the lightning flashed, he'd thought it had been his sister standing there. Thunder roared as he cried out a sudden, worried, "Sister! Watch out!" The thunder had been so loud he couldn't even hear himself yelling "_sister_," so there was no way Elise had heard it, but…

He wasn't one for playing the hero – but he had. He'd rescued her life. And he hadn't even realized it was her, until the two of them had crashed down onto the floor.

And then she'd made the hole in the ground remark, annoying him immensely. There was no way she could know about his childhood. But then why would she have used _that_ as a comparison? Mere coincidence? He'd have to force himself to believe that…

"Rishid!" he snapped. His older brother turned to face him. Malik's grip on the Sennen Rod tightened. "Go fetch the newcomer."

Rishid nodded, and within a few minutes had brought Elise back with him. The girl's hood was up, covering her eyes. She sniffed now and then.

She'd been crying. He could tell from how the sniffs sounded.

"Y-yes, Malik-sama?" she stammered, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Malik stopped himself looking over the girl. These must certainly be those hormones Rishid had warned him about. He hadn't really looked at girls too much before, but… no. He just had to clear his head.

"A hole in the ground," he muttered.

He wasn't handling this head clearing thing too well.

"Excuse me, Malik-sama?"

Malik glared at her. "A hole in the ground?"

"Will you not let that go, Malik-sama? You have to learn to let some things go… I don't know why that bothered you so much, but…" Elise paused, sniffed again, then said, "I'm sorry I said it; I wouldn't have thought such a small thing would annoy you so greatly, however–"

"Elise," Malik interrupted, before the girl could go on into some kind of speech about forgiveness and letting things go, "I have a job for you."

"Of course, Malik-s–"

Elise froze. She raised her head and stared Malik straight in the eyes. The girl looked frightened – no, terrified. She sniffed again. "You called me Elise."

Now he was really wishing he hadn't saved her life. She was hopeless, absolutely hopeless, but he might as well see what she could manage to do as a Ghoul.

With an impatient sigh, he replied, "Yes. I called you Elise. Elise Matsuki, fifteen, _female_."

Elise gasped, her eyes filling with fresh tears. "How do you know who I am?" she screamed.

"Lower your voice," Rishid warned. Malik nodded at him briefly before continuing.

"This…" Malik held up the Sennen Rod, "… is the Sennen Rod. One of the seven Sennen items. I can easily read or control your mind…"

"Oh," Elise stated.

"… which means that as soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew who you were."

Elise was silent for a minute, then asked, "That card that… that Jabari used. What… was it?"

"A copy – a counterfeit – of the Winged Dragon of Ra. An Egyptian God card."

"God… card?"

Malik's mind travelled to another place. In his mind, he was the Pharaoh. "Yes," he replied, sounding slightly dazed, "the strongest of the three God cards. They are needed to unlock the–"

"Malik-sama," Rishid began. Malik seemed to become himself again.

"What they are is unimportant. It's irrelevant. As I said, I have a job for you."

"What is it?" Elise managed to say, still in slight shock.

Malik nodded. "Go to Domino City. You will find rare cards and _get them at any cost_. Transportation will be provided for you."

"Of course, Malik-sama," Elise whispered. Rishid put his hand on her shoulder, pushing on it slightly. She took it as a notice to turn around and leave.

'_And Elise?_'

Malik's voice echoed around her head. She froze.

'_Watch out for Yugi Mutou or any of his friends. I'll be checking up on you regularly. You'll know who they are.'_

Elise nodded and left the room, escorted by Rishid.

Malik, now that he was alone, sighed. He was being nice to this girl – and seemingly only because she was a girl…


	4. Beginner's Luck

**Chapter Four – Beginner's Luck**

_Author's Note_: Instead of replying to reviews at the beginning of a chapter, I'm going to PM-reply to them from now on, to save room. However, I will reply to anonymous reviewers in this space. :D

Question: if I made a little character profile of Elise, how many of you would actually read it? I've seen some people make profiles for their OCs but I'm not sure who actually… reads them apart from me. Also, if any of you guys have an ideas for what you'd love to see in the upcoming chapters, I don't mind taking them into account! n_n

Also, a warning: I suck at writing out duels. I apologize for any inaccuracies or rule-breaking that will follow, but hey, they don't follow rules in the Yugioh anime itself, now, do they? ;]

* * *

Elise leaned back against the soft seat of the airplane, sighing heavily. She'd been trying not to think too much – after all, who knew when Malik might possibly decide it was a good idea to control her, and see everything she was thinking? So, here she was, trying to keep her mind clear. It wasn't working. She kept fretting and biting her lip.

It was a long plane trip to Domino City. There had been hardly any stops to change flights along the way, only one or two, which meant there had been hardly any time to stop and stretch her feet on solid ground. Her legs were beginning to ache.

Stretching slightly, she remembered the last few moments she'd spent in Egypt.

*

Rishid had driven her to the airport; he was on a motorcycle, and she was in one of those silly side-attached carts you could get for them. As she got out of the silly cart, hauling her suitcase (yes! Her _suitcase_! Malik had supplied her with a _suitcase_ to keep that silly "Duel Disk," and whatever else she felt she should pack, in) out with her, Rishid had stopped to stare at her.

"Whatever you do," he warned in a low voice, "make sure it's not something to annoy Malik-sama. You never know what he might do, especially since…" Rishid paused and shook his head, before saying, "I have faith in you."

Especially since what? Was everyone here _crazy_? Malik acted like Jabari being dead – Elise's stomach did disgusted flip-flops as she remembered his eerie scream moments before he'd died – was nothing, something that only deserved a temporary terrified look in his eyes… and now Rishid was saying he had faith in her. Faith in her for what? Was this all because she was a girl? Men were so… so _stupid_.

Rishid drove off with enough force to make Elise's skirt fly straight up. She'd changed into her favourite outfit when Malik had dismissed her. She couldn't believe that was only hours ago, now. Overly glad she had dark leggings on underneath the skirt, with both hands holding onto the suitcase, it took her brain a few moments to process the fact she should _definitely drop the suitcase and pull down her skirt_. At that very moment, a woman ran out of the airport, calling Elise her daughter and babbling on about nothing.

Looking up, Elise saw there was something wrong with her "mother's" eyes.

They had that same soulless look about them that the Ghoul who had given her water had had in his eyes. Elise figured it was something Malik had pulled off with the Sennen Rod. That didn't mean it made her feel safe, though; quite the opposite. Knowing Malik had brainwashed or was controlling this innocent woman made Elise even angrier at him. The conceited son of a…!

Her "mother" grabbed hold of Elise's arm, interrupting her bitter thoughts, and dragged her into the airport so quickly that Elise almost forgot to grab hold of the suitcase again. "We're going to be late, Elise darling," the woman cooed. Elise felt a pang of guilt as she pictured the looks on her _real_ parents' faces… she shook her head quickly. She wouldn't let the thought of them bring her down.

Anyway, she had more important things to think of, such as what she'd _really_ enjoy saying to Malik if she had the chance… then again, maybe not. He _had_ killed Jabari, after all. Who's to say that Elise wasn't next?

*

Now, sitting on the airplane, bored, she decided to look at the deck Malik had given her. She hadn't packed it in the suitcase – she'd kept it in her "mother's" carry-on bag, but had forgotten about the deck until her "mother," not knowing what real purpose the cards had, had asked if she wanted to play Solitaire with the cards to pass the time. She glanced over the cards briefly, trying to make their effects work together.

It appeared as if Malik had given her every single useless, leftover card he'd ever had. There was no flow or theme to this deck. Elise groaned. Apart from a few decent monsters that she could equip some magic cards onto and one or two useful magic and trap cards, she had no idea how she was expected to win any duels. '_Merde_,' she thought hopelessly, and could swear that she heard Malik cackling in her head.

She forced herself to believe it was just her imagination. He probably had better things to do right now than cackle in her head.

"The plane is now landing," announced a stewardess. Elise's "mother" clapped excitedly.

"Oh, Elise dear! We shall have such fun!"

Elise muttered an agreement, hoping that her "mother" wouldn't be with her for much longer. There was only so much fake pampering she could stand.

*

Surely enough, as soon as the plane had landed and the passengers were making their way to the baggage delivery, the shine returned to her "mother's" eyes and the woman seemed quite confused.

"Oh, what a quick flight," she mumbled, "I must have fallen asleep, I can't remember a thing…"

Elise had to try hard not to say anything.

Elise then retrieved her suitcase and headed out of the airport. Apartment buildings loomed around her, television screens on many of them. She was breathless, gazing around. So _this_ was Domino City. It was gorgeous.

'_Stop sightseeing and get to work_,' snapped Malik. She hadn't imagined him that time.

'_Of course, Malik-sama_,' she mentally replied, but was unable to keep the slight sarcasm from her voice.

Malik heard the sarcasm. '_Feeling disobedient, are we, Elise?_' he asked her. She was silent. '_I suggest not trying anything I don't want you to. You don't know everything I can do, Elise, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to find out…?_'

'_Of course not, Malik-sama,_' she mind-grumbled, wishing she could just stop at a hotel and relax for a while. But, no, she'd have to lug this stupid suitcase around with her – wait. It basically just had the Duel Disk in it, so she could just _accidentally_ leave the suitcase lying around somewhere. She sat down on a bench in front of the airport and opened the suitcase right there and then, taking the Duel Disk out and putting it on her arm.

Malik had also supplied her with some kind of deck-case that she had to attach to her boots, seeing as how she had no belt. She paused, shuffled around the suitcase, and then let out a surprised cry. She'd forgotten to pack her Ghouls outfit. '_Oh no,_' she worried. Well, how was she supposed to steal cards dressed up as a normal citizen who would be easy to track?

'_Never mind that_,' she thought, deciding she simply wouldn't steal cards. She took what she needed out and then threw the now-empty suitcase over into the bushes behind the bench she was sitting on. Well. She'd need money for _something_, no doubt. She placed some Egyptian pounds in her hand and counted the total amount. She was trying to figure out how much Yen the total amount she had was to no avail. She ran back into the airport, carrying a shoulder bag (how had Malik gotten hold of one of _those_?) that had the few things she'd packed, that she wasn't wearing, in it. She ran up to a currency exchange counter.

She tucked the yen she'd exchanged for into her wallet, and then put her wallet in the bag, and left the airport once more. She signaled for a taxi.

Good thing she _had_ packed her money, then, she mused as she got into the taxi. She'd have to walk otherwise, and she wasn't really in the mood for that. Getting from the airport on the outside of the city through bustling crowds to the centre wasn't exactly her thing.

When the taxi had to stop because of a duel, as close to the centre as it could, she paid the driver and muttered a quick thank you before she got out of the car.

The first thing she thought was, '_Oh gosh, there are holographic monsters_,' which soon led to, '_Oh gosh, I think the players are actually getting hurt when the monsters attack._'

She was gazing around wide-eyed when a young boy – he only looked about twelve – ran up to her. "Hey, you're a duelist, right?" he asked.

"Um…" Elise paused, looking at the Duel Disk around her arm, then at the Duel Disk on the boy's arm. Oh, no, her first duel already?

"You've got a Duel Disk!" the boy persisted. "You gotta duel me!"

"Fine," Elise grumbled. The boy handed her his deck.

"You hafta shuffle it to make sure I don't cheat," he prompted when Elise gave him a strange look. Oh, now she remembered. Surely you didn't have to do that for every duel, though? Many people were starting duels without doing so, but it was better not to argue. She nodded to the boy and shuffled his deck, then handed it back to him. She got her deck out of the case attached to her boot. She handed it to him, he shuffled it, and gave it back.

"Don't hold back 'cause you're older than me!" he exclaimed. Elise rolled her eyes. She missed being carefree like she was when she'd still lived in France. Might as well loosen up a bit, even if only temporarily; what harm could be done by it?

"I won't hold back, but that's only because you're a boy," she teased.

They played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who went first. The boy won. They moved away from each other, preparing to duel.

Elise and the boy put their decks into their respective Duel Disks in unison. The boy shouted "Duel!" as he did so; Elise just felt silly, and so did not.

"My turn!" the boy announced. "Draw!"

He drew a card, placing it in his hand. A smirk appeared on his face. Elise blinked in surprise.

"I play a monster in defense mode, and set two other cards."

Setting cards – that was for magic and trap cards, right? And _two_ of them? Elise gulped.

"My turn is over," the boy smirked.

"Okay, well. My turn, draw," Elise stated, feeling foolish. She pulled a Monster Reborn from her deck and placed it in her hand. She glanced over the six cards she had. Along with Monster Reborn, she had Trap Hole, Vorse Raider, Mystical Elf, Time Wizard, and Polymerization. At least she had managed to somehow draw a few of the decent cards she had. She put Mystical Elf face down in defense mode and set Trap Hole on the field, then ended her turn.

On his turn, the boy set another card in defense mode, and didn't activate either of his magic/trap cards. On her turn, Elise drew a 7 Colored Fish from her deck with a groan, and summoned Vorse Raider in attack mode. Worrying about what the face down magic/trap cards were, she didn't attack.

On his next turn, the boy drew a card with a big smirk. He sacrificed his two monsters and summoned Tri-Horned Dragon to the field. Elise smirked. "I activate my face down card, Trap Hole!" she exclaimed triumphantly. Tri-Horned Dragon shattered and was sent to the graveyard. The boy looked surprised, and ended his turn.

After drawing a card, Elise shouted, "I use Monster Reborn to summon Tri-Horned Dragon back to the field! Tri-Horned Dragon, Vorse Raider, attack!"

The boy didn't activate any of his cards and took the 4750 damage to his life points, causing him to lose. Elise blinked. Her first duel, with a terrible deck but lucky draws, and she'd _won_? She'd actually had beginner's luck? She started laughing nervously. The boy walked up to her.

"That was a good duel," he admitted, "I'm a novice player, myself, but I normally go longer than I did with you. You're pretty good."

Elise shook her head. "No, I just had good luck, trust me. You were a bit hasty with summoning that Dragon, which caused your downfall."

"Here," the boy said reluctantly, handing her his Locator Card and his deck. "Choose whichever card out of the deck you want."

Elise picked the Tri-Horned Dragon, and her and the boy went on their separate ways.


	5. Unexpected

**Chapter Five – Unexpected**

_Little Kuriboh Imposter_: Oh, wow, thanks so much! I'm really glad to know you think it's amazing so far. :3

_Author's Note:_ Things should be getting more interesting from this point on. 'Namu' and the finals are on their way. Oh, and I'm sorry for how long this update took! This chapter took a while to write correctly. I'm not 100% proud of the result, but it's good enough.  


* * *

Elise's feet scuffed heavily on the road, her boots suddenly feeling like they weighed a ton. A strong wind was blowing now, causing her exposed shoulders – why did her favourite shirt _have_ to be a shoulderless one? – to become cold. She couldn't reach up her arms to rub them to try and warm them up, seeing as how she'd probably whack herself in the face with her Duel Disk.

She let out a groan as she paused to lean against a building. She was so tired; she'd forgotten all about jet lag – or, well, since she'd flown forward in time zones, maybe jet zoom. And she hadn't stretched her legs that often on the plane trips, which was coming back to get her now. Her legs almost gave way as a particularly strong gust hit her.

Her necklace caught the breeze and flew to the side. Annoyed, Elise turned to look at it, almost about to yell at her necklace before she realized necklaces couldn't hear or talk. They were inanimate objects. '_Good going, Elise,_' she thought.

A sign caught her eye as she turned her head. It said _Manami Restaurant – free food for duelists!_ Elise blinked, re-reading the sign. Her stomach grumbled.

She hadn't eaten much on the plane, come to think of it. And maybe some food would help her tiredness issue. She dragged herself to the door and walked inside, sitting down at a table with a groan.

Free food seemed too good to be true.

After she had received her menu from an ominous-looking man and gave her order to the same man, she began to stuff as much of the food into her mouth as she could. Chewing seemed to become a long-forgotten habit for her. The more bites she swallowed, the heavier her eyelids became…

Her head drooped and landed beside her now empty plate…

And then she was waking up and two men in robes were shuffling through her deck. Elise was about to cry out when she realized they were Ghouls.

"Excuse me," she said, "but what do you think you're doing?"

Surely they knew that she was a Ghoul!

They turned to look at her and began laughing ominously. One of them spat at her feet. "Stupid girl," the spitter said, "we're taking your cards for our Master. Haven't you been warned to look out for the Ghouls? Wasn't free food too good to be true?"

She _had_ thought it was. She hadn't considered this, and why didn't they realize that she was a Ghoul, too…? Then it hit her. Everyone – well, almost everyone – had thought she was a male, and to make matters worse, she wasn't in her Ghoul robes since she had so conveniently forgotten those. Time to resort to plan B.

"Please," Elise begged, not speaking any louder than a whisper, "I'm a Ghoul too…"

The one who had spat at her began laughing again. "Don't you know?" he asked. "There are no _female_ Ghouls."

"B-but, I am…!"

The non-spitter shook his head before suddenly screaming out in pain and placing his hands over his ears. Elise blinked, and the spitter-Ghoul backed off.

"If you were a Ghoul, then you'd know about this," he said, sounding extremely frightened.

An eye shape appeared on the screaming Ghoul's forehead. Elise paused. She'd seen that eye before… then she realized. The Sennen Rod!

"Malik-sama," she whispered.

"Ah, hello, Elise… and hello James." Though the Ghoul was talking in his normal voice, there was a second voice there, too. Elise recognized it as Malik's.

James stuttered out a "M-Malik-sama!"

Elise was silent now, not quite taking in what was happening.

"As you can see, James," Malik continued, "I knew this girl's name. She is, in fact, a Ghoul, and she has been of more use to me than you have. Which isn't saying much, as, not including her deck, your foolish attempts to steal rare cards have all failed so far. Elise has at least gained _one_ card."

"Are you sure that you're not just sticking up for her because she is something more to you than just another Ghoul? Her deck was _terrible_, there's no way it was given to her by you, Malik-sama!" James snapped.

"Something more…?" Malik actually sounded thoughtful. Elise's heart was thudding in her chest, and now not just from nervousness.

"You think this stupid girl is something _more_ than 'just another Ghoul?'" Malik shouted. "I am not protecting her because of any boyish feelings I may have for her – which are nonexistent, may I add – but because she is another Ghoul, and as I mentioned previously, of more use than you. So next time you try to shuffle through someone's deck, make sure you know of_ their_ status as opposed to _your_ pathetic excuse for one."

Elise finally managed to speak. She had planned to say something semi-thoughtful, but just wound up blabbering out a "Wha-?"

Malik looked over at her. "Don't let this inflate your ego. I'm not even close to being finished with you, _dear_."

Elise froze in fear. He had called her dear, which was one thing entirely… but the way he had said it! Over the Ghoul he was controlling's voice, and his own, there sounded like there was a third, darker voice. And then it was gone as quickly as it had crept in.

"James, let Elise be on her way or else you'll have to answer to me. And I'm certain you don't want that."

"Of course, Malik-sama."

"And just to prove that I'm not showing any favouritism of sorts…"

The eye disappeared from the forehead of the Ghoul Malik had been controlling. A bright light glowed in front of Elise's eyes, and a loud ringing entered her ears. She managed not to scream, but whimpered and clasped her hands over her ears. It _hurt_. Even with her hands pressed tightly against her ears, the ringing continued.

She seemed to be floating in nothingness. Her own voice, mixed with Malik's, was speaking. She heard it dully but it echoed around her head, overtaking the ringing. "You should be considered lucky, James. I could have controlled you. I know what a … '_fan_' you are of that."

And then she couldn't hear anything else. Nothing at all. She continued floating around in the nothingness. She could see herself, but everything else was pitch black.

"This is strange," she whispered. She could hear _that_. As she was about to say something else, Malik appeared in front of her suddenly, and she gasped.

"Hello, Elise," he said with a smirk. "You seem surprised to see me…?"

Elise bit her lip, trying to think of something to reply with. She couldn't come up with anything to say, now. Her heart was still pounding irregularly, and her mind was dully thinking, '_He could have let those Ghouls do anything to me, but he stood up for me; he protected me!_'

Malik cocked his head, tightening his grip on the Sennen Rod. "Elise…"

She blinked at him, just as a loud, "_He protected me_!" echoed around the black nothingness. A blush rose to her cheeks as she managed to mutter a quick, "Oh yes, would this be my mind we're in?"

"It's not that at _all_, Elise…" Malik looked extremely irritated with her. "Weren't you listening to _anything_ I'd said? 'Don't let this inflate your ego. I'm not even close to being finished with you.'"

"No," Elise stammered, floating backward a little, "that wasn't all of what you said. You'd called me 'd-'"

"What I did or, in this case, did _not_ say is of no matter. You need to get your head out of the clouds, Elise."

Taken aback, the younger teenager hung her head in shame. But why didn't he remember calling her dear? She bit her lip as Malik let out an irritated sigh. "Now, enough fun and games, Elise. You have a job to do. Those Ghouls who… held you up… will be punished fairly. As for you – your job is uncompromised. So I have one small request for you."

"Which is?"

"_Do it_."

"Yes, Malik-sama," she whispered.

And then she'd fallen onto her knees, out of the nothingness, with two surprised Ghouls staring at her.

"I can't believe this _girl_ is better than us," James muttered bitterly. Elise frowned at him. Now that Malik was gone, James wasn't scared of insulting her anymore.

"You Ghouls are all the same," Elise snapped. "Girl this, girl that. Or maybe you're just a sexist, sorry excuse for a human being." Oh, dear, it appeared Malik was having some sort of influence on her. She didn't normally lash out like this, but she was becoming fed up. She took a breath and started, "At least there was one Ghoul, his name was Jabari…"

All her happy, unexplained feelings about Malik melted. _Jabari_. Malik had killed Jabari. Elise gulped back what she was going to say.

"_Weakling_."

She looked up at James. His taunts weren't bothering her. With a sigh, she pushed Jabari, once more, from her mind.

"Get over yourself," Elise said unconvincingly. "I'd like my deck back, now. And I'll have you know Malik-sama _did_ give it to me."

James rolled his eyes. "Of course he did, _girl_."

"My deck, please, James."

He held it up above her head, making her have to jump to get it. Elise wasn't that small of a person, standing at five foot six, but James had to be a good few inches over six feet. James laughed and dropped the cards on the ground, heading back to the front room of the restaurant. The other Ghoul, the one Malik had mind-controlled, said a simple, "I'm sorry for how James is," and left.

Elise removed her Duel Disk to make the task of crawling around the floor, picking up her cards, much easier. She didn't care about her deck to be honest, but she had to make Malik proud. She feared what would happen if she didn't. Rishid had warned her not to do anything to make him angry. Was that other voice why? Was Jabari's death why? Oh, she just didn't get it!

Swiping up her Tri-Horned Dragon last, she nestled the cards back into as neat a deck as she could and shoved them into the deck case on her boot. Letting out a bitter-sounding "ugh," and putting her Duel Disk back on her arm, she left the restaurant.

Angry Malik, Jabari, multiple voices… well… what could possibly happen next?

Confusion overtook her mind as she glanced around, trying to clear her head.

"You know, we really should be looking harder if we want to find Yugi," a female voice nearby said. Elise's head whipped around in the direction of the speaker.

A brunette girl and a blond boy were walking down the street. The mention of the name Yugi had piqued Elise's interest. She remembered what Malik had said – watch out for Yugi Mutou and his friends. And, well, she had to do her job. Surely, this could pass off as her job.

She ran up to the two teenagers, forcing a smile that looked more sincere than it really was on her face.

"Excuse me," she asked, "but I heard you talking about Yugi…?"

The boy nodded at her. "Yeah, what about him?"

Elise bit her lip. She had to come up with a good excuse. "He won something, didn't he?" Oh, she hoped she was right with that guess.

"Yes, he did," the girl chimed happily. "He won the Duelist Kingdom championship."

"That's where I knew his name from! I've always wanted to get to know him, I don't suppose I could hang around with you guys for a little while?"

The boy looked at the girl and they nodded to each other. "I don't see why not," the boy said.

"I'm Anzu," the girl said, sticking out her hand. Elise smiled and shook it. "And that's Jounouchi."

"I'm Elise," she replied sincerely. She felt like her old self again, back when she still lived in France, and it was relieving. Still smiling, she added, "Nice to meet you."


	6. All An Act

**Chapter Six – All An Act  
(AKA _No, I swear I didn'__t half-ass this chapter at all!_)**

_Author's Note_: Who's a procrastinator? _I am_!

Anyway, sorry for such a long wait for this update! I had writer's block for a while… a long while. And then when I didn't I was just plain lazy…

Also, I changed the plot around a _little_ bit so that Elise can get to know Jounouchi and Anzu a bit better before Malik and Bakura come bursting into the picture. (That's just my excuse for realizing that I totally messed up the end of the last chapter, so just go with it, please.) And some of the chapter may seem rushed – I'm sorry about that.

* * *

Elise started humming tunelessly as she followed after Jounouchi and Anzu. They'd told her that they had to find Yugi's Grandpa, so here the three teenagers were, walking down the crowded streets searching for him. They just called him "Grandpa," even though they had no relation to him, so Elise started mentally calling him that as well.

The humming trailed off as Anzu exclaimed an "Ah!" and ran up to a grey- and spiky-haired man staring through a window at some Duel Monsters cards. Elise assumed that would be "Grandpa".

"We were looking for you," Anzu told him with a smile. Elise tuned out as she stared longingly through the window at the display of cards, but soon Anzu started tugging lightly on her sleeve. "Come on, Elise, we're going back to look for Yugi."

Elise nodded and they all began walking back – to the spot they'd just left from. Elise groaned. Jounouchi turned to look at her.

"So, where're you from, Elise?" he asked. "I haven't seen you at the school."

"Oh, I, er…" Elise paused. She needed a decent excuse, and fast. She couldn't say she was working for Malik, seeing as how these were the people she was supposed to try and use and abuse or whatever the case would end up being. "My parents just moved here yesterday from France; we're still settling in."

"France!" Anzu sighed. "What's the Eiffel Tower like?"

Elise blushed from sheer nervousness. "I-it's very pretty at night." At least _that_ wasn't a lie.

"You have to promise to take me to see it someday."

"A-alright…"

Then they were back and looking around for Yugi again. Elise was grumbling about how pointless that trip had been and was thinking about how much she hated lying when suddenly Malik's voice was in her head.

'_Huh._'

'_Huh?_' Elise repeated, unable to hide the dumbstruck expression on her face. Luckily, neither Anzu nor Jounouchi nor Grandpa were looking at her. '_What do you mean huh?_'

'_Namu._'

… he meant Namu by huh? '_You're making no sense, you stupid– oh._' Elise had turned to face the direction the other three she was with were facing, and there, making his way toward them, was Malik. He was supporting a white-haired boy who had a blood-stained bandage tied around his arm. What on earth…?

Everybody raced up to them, and something in Elise's mind clicked. _Namu_…

"Bakura!" Anzu and Jounouchi cried in unison.

"Namu!" Elise cried at the same time.

"What happened?" Grandpa asked.

The wound looked serious. Elise felt fear bubbling in her stomach. Was… was this Malik's fault? What was he capable of doing?

"He was attacked…" Malik explained, staring at the white-haired boy – Bakura? – worriedly. "Do… do you know him?"

"Yes," Jounouchi said, sounding disgusted. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Jounouchi…" Bakura mumbled.

"Bakura, what happened?"

"I… I don't know… I can't remember…"

Malik had stopped supporting Bakura and was now looking Jounouchi straight in the eyes. "Even though there's this cloth over the wound, we'd better have him sent to the hospital so they can check everything out and make sure he's really okay."

"Good idea," Elise said, and Anzu nodded in agreement.

"We'll be able to take care of the rest," Grandpa said. "Thank you."

Bakura cringed and Malik supported him again, looking honestly worried. Elise, feeling her face turning hot and being unsure why, knelt down beside Malik.

"Jounouchi, can you help…?" Grandpa continued.

*

After Grandpa had left with Bakura in a taxi to the hospital, Jounouchi held his hand out to Malik. "Thank you again," he said, "um…?"

"Elise said your name was Namu, right?" Anzu, who was standing next to Jounouchi, chimed in.

"Y-yeah," Elise, next to Malik, confirmed.

After introductions and Malik pretending to be envious of Jounouchi already being part of the finals, Anzu paused.

"Wait, Elise?" She interrupted.

Elise cocked her head. "Hm?"

"How do you and Namu know each other?"

"Oh, we… we're uh…" Elise trailed off. _'Think of something, think of something…_' An idea hit her suddenly and she had to try hard to suppress her grin.

'_No, Elise. _No._ We're just fri–'_ Malik started to say to her, but Elise grabbed hold of his hand.

"We're dating."

Malik was silent in her mind, but put his hand around Elise's waist and drew her closer to him.

"You two are so cute together!" Anzu exclaimed unexpectedly, resulting in an awkward silence from both Malik and Elise.

"I thought you just moved here yesterday, though?" Jounouchi asked.

"Oh, our parents were old friends," Malik explained. "We knew each other when we were younger, but you know, families can move… but, well, now we're back together." Malik smiled at Elise and Elise smiled back. While she knew Malik's was a façade, hers felt extremely honest. And to make matters worse, she was blushing.

Why was she blushing? Why did his hand around her waist make her feel so happy? Must just be because he'd saved her – twice. As cruel as he was being, the heroism must have done something to her heart.

"I feel like we're such good friends already," Malik continued.

"Yes!" Anzu replied.

"Odd, isn't it?" Jounouchi added in. "Well, we've got to keep looking for Yugi."

"Of course!" Elise and Malik said in unison. Anzu and Jounouchi turned and began walking off. Elise was about to walk after them when she saw Malik seemed to be deep in thought.

"Malik-sama?" she whispered, once Anzu and Jounouchi were far enough away to not hear.

He turned to look at her, eyes ablaze in anger, and snapped a quick "_shh_" at her. She blinked.

"What –"

'_You don't seem to understand, Elise._' Malik's voice filled her head and she bit her lip, holding back tears, at the sound of his voice. It was angrier than his eyes had looked. '_When I speak, I speak with a reason. I did not just say "_shh"_ because I felt like treating you like an infant who has not developed a proper mind of her own yet. I said it because I needed you to be _quiet!_'_

Elise froze and gulped, but was silent.

'_Good_.' Malik cast a visible smirk at her. He was _enjoying_ taunting her! Then again, by now, she should have known that.

Any trace of blush or silly heart flutters that may have remained from the charade of being boyfriend and girlfriend dissipated. Elise was ashamed that she had even felt it. Of course he was going to taunt her – she couldn't be herself without being punished. Was that the reason he'd let her live? To bring in another soul to taunt? Was she going to end up like Jabari because of this?

She exhaled a shaky breath. Oh, how her emotions seemed to flip-flop.

Malik grabbed hold of her hand. A warm smile was on his face – it was fake, of course, but it certainly didn't look the part – and Elise knew that 'Namu' was back. "Come on, Elise, we need to catch up to Anzu and Jounouchi for something."

He'd tried to sound cheerful but it came off as a sneer. When he'd said her name it was laced with sarcasm and bitterness.

She let him drag her down the street.

"Hey, guys!" Malik cried. Anzu and Jounouchi turned.

"Oh, hey again," Jounouchi replied. Anzu smiled at Elise and Malik in greeting.

"Maybe Elise and I could tag along with you two for a little while?" Malik asked. "I mean, it wouldn't be too long at –"

Then three Ghouls suddenly were surrounding them, and Anzu and Jounouchi let out startled cries. One of the Ghouls even began kicking at Malik, knocking him down to the ground. Elise let out a shocked cry now as well – what was happening, exactly? What kind of plan was _this_?

And then one of the Ghouls kicked her in the stomach, and she, too, collapsed to the ground.

As she lay in pain, Malik's voice, once more a sneer, filled her mind. '_Oh! I'm _terribly_ sorry._ _Seems you're going to get an actual beating from them. It slipped my mind to tell them that "Matt" is actually a_ girl_ known as Elise. What a _shame_…!_'


	7. And She Fears

**Chapter Seven – And She Fears**

_Author's Note_: I've seen a lot of people have added this story to their story watches/favourites without reviewing at all, which actually kinda hurts. I really want to know what you think of the story as it progresses, and your reviews _do_ help me figure out how to write certain things, or what to write. Even if it's just a "you're doing fine so far, keep writing!" it helps, so please, please review!

* * *

"Leave me alone!"

Her scream echoed throughout the warehouse almost eerily. The two Ghouls with her, each one holding an arm and dragging her along behind them, just laughed.

"You're freaks! Let go of me!"

Her struggling was useless.

When Malik and Rishid came into view, the Ghouls pushed her harshly down onto the ground. Elise collapsed onto her hands and knees from the force of the push, and stared up at Malik angrily. She was shaking, and he tilted his head in amusement.

"You know, Master, they say women are only good for one thing…" One of the Ghouls hinted.

"She's not even a good liar, is she? Does she even remotely look like a boy?" the other Ghoul asked.

This prompted a laugh from Malik. "Oh, but look at her. She _does_, and she knows it, too. That's why she thought she could get away with it."

"Ah," the other Ghouls chimed in.

Rishid stood there, beside Malik, silently. All he did was stare at Elise, with a look of what could have been remorse in his eyes.

"What the hell is your problem?" Elise spat at Malik. "One moment you're smiling at me and wrapping your arm around my waist –"

The two Ghouls raised their eyebrows and Malik interrupted. "You forget yourself, Elise. That was all play."

She sputtered out what sounded like a "_rr_" before continuing. "You should get my point!"

"But what point is there to get, when you can't get your facts straight?"

"Either way, you're now treating me lower than you treat the dirt you stand on!"

Malik looked utterly bored. "I figured, if I treated you semi-decently, you'd possibly get me what I wanted. And you did. Now I have both Anzu and Jounouchi, so Yugi will soon be mine as well. I have no use for you anymore, so you have a choice."

"And what would that be?"

He knelt down in front of her. When she looked away in disgust, he tilted her chin back so that they were staring each other in the eyes. "Either I… dispose of you, for lack of a nicer term… or, on the note of that dirt comparison you so lovingly used, you allow me to walk all over you, but at least you are still _here_."

"And where would _here_ be? Earth, or this warehouse?"

"Oh. You know."

"Do I?" she snapped.

Malik tilted his head again, then stared down. Elise hadn't noticed her necklace was dangling quite obviously from her neck, and she'd done her best to keep it hidden up to this point. "What's this?" Malik asked tauntingly.

"It's a necklace."

"I can see that, fool."

'_The necklace. Focus on the necklace. Follow your heart, Elise._' Her attempts at trying to calm herself down weren't working.

"Oh? It has a _meaning_!"

"Huh?" Elise exclaimed, being drawn out of her mind.

"Follow your heart, Elise. How _cute_, considering it's shaped like a heart…" Malik's hand wrapped around the necklace and with a swift tug he'd pulled it off her neck, the string snapped in two. "… but we can't have you wanting to do anything on that note at all, can we?"

"You… you…" Elise trailed off, unable to come up with anything to say.

"I have work to attend to." With the conversation finished, Malik stood up and began walking away. Rishid followed after him with one last remorseful glance at Elise.

One of the remaining Ghouls sniggered. "We need to get you back into your Ghoul outfit, miss Elise. Seems you'd forgotten it, so we have it here for you." He tossed it into her arms. "Of course, if you need any help getting it on…"

"I can dress _myself_!" she screamed, running in the opposite direction of Malik, Rishid, and the Ghouls. She didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to get away.

*

Elise drew her hood tighter around her, the taunts still echoing in her mind. Where was she supposed to go now? Couldn't she just run away?

She shook her head.

No.

That wouldn't work at all.

Malik would be able to find her.

She clenched her fist. That _bastard._ What had made her agree to being a Ghoul in the first place?

The choice between life or a slow death in the desert…?

She glanced from one end of the warehouse to the other. At one end, the direction Malik had walked off to, there was a long stretch of water, and a boat visibly sitting in it.

Well, since she couldn't run…

*

"Malik-sama. Yugi's companions escaped."

Malik glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. Rishid was not helping with his frustration at the turn of events that this duel between Jounouchi and the Pharaoh's vessel had taken. "Don't report such things to me!" His hand raised, he turned entirely around on his heel, slapping Rishid harshly.

Rishid showed no sign of even acknowledging the slap, apart from a slightly lowered gaze.

"Do you –" Malik stopped mid-sentence, a sharp intake of breath interrupting him and causing them both to turn. He and Rishid both noticed Elise standing on the deck of the ship at the same time. Malik froze.

Her lower lip was trembling, but she was obviously trying not to cry. Crying was all she'd been doing lately, and it was starting to bother Malik. He figured it was annoyance, but annoyance did not normally feel quite like _this_. His eyes widened somewhat, but it was temporary. He stood his ground.

"What's _wrong_ with you…?" she whispered, moving her hands to tighten her hood even more. "… can you not stand losing so much that you'd hurt the person closest to you? Even _I_ can tell how close you two are together, so… so… why would you do it? Are you so self-centred, so unable to accept your flaws and that you, too, are imperfect, that you would –"

"Shut up!" Malik roared, and with a burst of speed was suddenly chest-to-chest with Elise, wrapping his hand around her neck. "You – have – no – _idea_ – what you are talking about, _dear_."

There was that voice again. That second voice that she'd heard before, the second voice, laced with sarcasm, that sent shivers down her spine and caused her to view Malik in a different light.

"M-Malik-s…" she gasped for breath, struggling as his hand tightened around her neck.

"You need to learn your place," he hissed into her ear. "And ordering _me_ around is _not_ your place in the slightest. I can kill you if I so will it, and I will not hesitate to do so."

"P-please…" She was getting light-headed now, and her vision was blackening.

"Malik-sama." It was Rishid. Malik glanced over his shoulder at him, and almost instantly his hand loosened. Elise's own hands flew up to her neck as she fell to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath.

"Ugh." Malik grumbled, staring down at Elise. "You're pathetic."

She stared at the ground, silently.

"Take her away, Rishid. I don't want to look at her."

Rishid nodded, and held his hand out to help Elise up. She looked up and their eyes, brown to gold, met. She froze when she realized he honestly appeared to feel sorry for her. Grabbing his hand, she stood up swiftly.

Malik tapped his foot on the deck impatiently, his back to them. "I'm _waiting_, Rishid. She's still _here_. I have a duel to attend to."

"Thank you," Elise mouthed to Rishid, but he'd turned away and was leading her off the boat, away from Malik…

*

Elise dangled her feet in the water, staring at her reflection. Her face was dirty, her eyes were red from how often she'd been crying recently, and no matter how often she patted down her hair it was still flying out in every direction possible, even though it was short.

She missed her necklace, her family, her old friends from school…

"Why did I ever run away?" she whispered, watching her reflection mouth the words as she spoke them. "You're in such a mess now…"

And before she knew what was happening, she'd been yanked off the ground and whirled around to be staring at Malik's chin.

"It's your fault for distracting me," he spat at her. She would have backed up, but doing so would cause her to fall into the cold sea. "That's why _I lost_. That's why _that damned vessel_ is still _alive_."

"Maybe," she whispered, avoiding Malik's gaze because of her pure fear of what the hatred in his eyes would look like, "maybe you lost because you can't duel."

Malik took a step back. "Excuse me?"

"Maybe you lost because you can't duel."

"Yes, that's what I thought you said," he said emotionlessly, having drained out all his anger earlier. "But if I'm such a bad duelist, why don't you prove that you're better than me, to be able to judge me as you are?"

"Huh?" she blinked, finally looking at his face. He wasn't even looking at her; his eyes were staring blankly to her side.

"I want you," he mumbled, and at that moment Elise realized he was _bored_, "to duel me."


	8. Your Move

**Chapter Eight **– **Your Move**

_Author's Note_: Oh, hey, I'm not dead. *innocently whistles* I also can't write duels, and was writer's blocked for months, so forgive the utter failure of this chapter.

Also, apparently IYM turned a year old on the ninth, and I missed it. XD My bad! Here's its birthday present, though: a long-overdue update!

* * *

Elise went to tuck her hair behind her ear before she realized, with a sharp jolt of shock, that it was cut short. "_You_ want… to duel… _me_?" The words fell clumsily off her tongue; once she had finished speaking, she kept her mouth hanging open in a gape. Even if she'd managed to have spoken clearly, her dumbfounded expression would have betrayed her shock.

"If I'm such a bad duelist, duel me." Malik repeated, ever emotionlessly. "Whoever wins will be the one to go to the finals. Together, we have more than enough locator cards. Winner takes all."

"That's not even fair," Elise told him. Malik turned to face her. A sharp glint of anger seemed to flash through his eyes as they stared directly into Elise's. Against her will, she flinched slightly before continuing. "You have stronger cards than I do."

"Who said I was using my own deck?" He shook his head disapprovingly. "You can be so naïve, girl. I'm going to use a copy of your deck; whoever has the most skill with it will proceed."

"Ah, ah…" She started to protest, but the words to do so failed her. Anything that did come to mind was embarrassing, useless, stupid, or all three. She hurried to put her boots back on, ignoring the fact her feet were still wet; she just needed them on so that she'd have her deck with her – plus, she didn't want to carry them around. Once her boots were on, she looked back up at Malik. "I… I accept, then."

"You had, of course, no choice in the matter, so there was nothing _to_ accept!" Malik snapped impatiently, as he grabbed onto her hand with enough strength to squeeze Elise's fingers painfully close together. He began to drag her after him as he made his way to an open spot in the warehouse. Elise could tell, even from a distance, that this spot was more than big enough for a duel.

As they neared it, however, a flurry of butterflies decided to wreak havoc on the inside of her stomach. Oh, lovely.

Malik dropped his grip on her hand and pushed her forcefully over to a spot on the ground. She stumbled slightly, managing to regain her balance in time to whirl around and face Malik. He had apparently been watching her, and now had a questioning look on his face. She braced herself to be insulted for how clumsy she was.

After a moment's silence, Malik spoke up. "Elise," he asked, sounding almost _nice_, "why did you say 'yes'?"

"What do you mean, 'yes'?" she replied, furrowing her brow slightly in confusion. The confusion wasn't just because of the seemingly random question, but because he was coming across as being rather civil –

"Idiot," he retorted. "I mean when you accepted the offer to become a Ghoul. What else _could_ I mean?"

– no, never mind.

"Does it matter, really?" she whispered, almost unable to hide the bitterness she felt toward Malik's arrogance. She reached down to her boot, pulling her deck out of its case. As she handed it to Malik for him to cut and shuffle, she shook her head slightly. "Come on, I'm sure you know the answer. You've probably read my mind enough to know everything I've thought recently. Who's to say my thoughts are really my own, now? I'm beginning to feel as if I can't tell left from right."

Malik was silent as he handed Elise his own deck.

"A better question," she continued, and would have been shocked at how irritated she sounded if she was in a better mood, "would be 'why are you spilling your heart out to me, Elise?' or, even, 'do you know why I called you Elise instead of _girl_ just now?'" She began clumsily shuffling the cards, almost unable to keep her hands steady. She wasn't going to cry this time, but god, she was trying her hardest not to claw at Malik's throat. "I can answer the first one myself – there's no point in hiding anything from you. The slightest thing that goes through my mind, I could hide and hide, and try not to tell you, but _you'd know_. Do you even know what that's like? Do you even care?"

She sighed, her hands beginning to shake. '_Good going,_' she thought to herself. '_Have a nice heart-to-heart with the man you hate. Lovely._' She hesitated for a moment, before speaking up again. "As for the second question… that's what I'm asking you."

Her hands fumbled and a card fell out of Malik's deck, fluttering down to the ground. It landed face up, and Elise's gaze fell upon it. Her heart missed a beat when she saw it was the Tri-Horned Dragon. So Malik really _was_ using her cards… and for some strange, possessive reason, she did _not_ want him using _her_ favourite card.

She picked the card up and resumed shuffling the deck, not speaking a single word. Malik was still eerily silent until he exhaled sharply.

"You act surprised that I can call you by name. I call Rishid by his name, so why not you by yours?"

"That's Rishid, though," Elise protested weakly. "Rishid and I are not viewed by you as being on the same level."

"Can you, too, read minds now, to be able to know that for certain?" Malik retorted. "Once more, Elise: learn your place."

Elise bit down on her lip harshly, mustering all the strength she had to not scream at Malik. Perhaps that stupid bastard was right about everything he'd said to her to make her feel terrible. She really _did_ need to learn her place. She was being nothing more than an annoying little girl…

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Malik handing her deck back to her. She took the hint to give him his own deck back.

The conversation waned off as the male teenager made his way to a spot several metres away. He turned to face Elise, but she wasn't fully looking at him. She was aware he was there, but she'd managed to get her vision out of focus so she wouldn't have to see the smug expression that would be glimmering in his eyes.

"Ready?" he called, and she knew he was taunting her.

Being unable to say 'no', and knowing his question was rhetorical in the first place, she remained silent.

Malik smirked. "Then let's duel. Ladies first, Elise."

"If we're going by that, perhaps the one with long hair should go first," she found herself mumbling, almost inaudibly. Luckily, Malik either had not heard her, or pretended not to. They both drew their starting hands of five cards, and Elise took out another card for her turn.

Her hand was looking rather terrible. Mainly cards that were hardly worth mentioning, and then… Trap Hole. At least _that _could come in handy, couldn't it?

Elise froze for a moment, a thought suddenly shooting through her mind. She pointed a finger at Malik. "You'd better not read my mind to know what cards I have."

"That would simply remove the fun."

"_What_ fun?" she replied with a sigh. She set Trap Hole face down on the field, ready to use, and played a monster in face-down defense position. "I end my turn."

Malik drew a card, and seemed to take a rather long time to decide what cards he was going to set. He ended up summoning Vorse Raider in attack position. Elise debated using Trap Hole, but resisted. She'd save it for another monster rather than possibly wasting it earlier on.

She expected an attack, but to her surprise, Malik did _not_ attack Elise's face down card. He ended his turn without speaking, but instead by motioning at Elise to go.

This continued for several turns – Elise seemingly only getting high-defense monsters or trap cards, and Malik seemingly only getting high-attack monsters.

The odds were looking rather even at this moment: Elise had 5 cards face down in defense position and 3 trap cards, and Malik had 3 cards face up in attack position and 2 trap or magic cards. The duel was crawling along so slowly, Elise was uncertain as to whether it would ever end or not… but, finally, Elise drew the card she'd been hoping for for so long, with a shot at changing the even odds.

The Tri-Horned Dragon was clenched in her hand, and she bit her lip, staring down at her Duel Disk. Her favourite card had to bring her _some_ luck – _any_ luck at all – even though she didn't exactly want to go to the finals. Trying to keep her voice from cracking in nervousness, she exclaimed, "I sacrifice two monsters to summon-!"

Malik "tsk"ed at Elise, cutting her off. "Didn't your parents ever tell you to not go rushing into things?"

Elise froze, her words lost in a gasp for air. She moved her hand to her neck, and remembered that her necklace was gone. She felt weak. Her lips pressed tightly together as she attempted to gain some form of strength.

Malik held out his hand, the little winged heart necklace in his palm. "Does this really help you so much that at the slightest sign of losing a _card game _you have to reach for it? You have to be stronger than that to get anywhere in life."

"What are you, my _mother_?" she snapped bluntly. A sharp pang of something – loneliness? – reverberated throughout her body. No, no! She wouldn't let herself miss her family. She forced her attention back to Malik.

He appeared emotionless again as he dropped her necklace to the floor in front of him. He muttered something under his breath that Elise couldn't hear, and then shook his head. "Get the necklace when we're done," he whispered, then raised his voice to a normal speaking volume. "We have a duel to finish."

Part of Elise was protesting that she should just surrender since she didn't want to go to the finals, but the other half was yelling that surrendering would just be weak. What was the point, though? She was going to lose anyway – with this deck, and the draws she kept making, she knew she would. So, either way, she would be weak.

But it was a case of weak and humiliated… or weak because she chose to be. The latter sounded much more appealing.

Malik was about to continue his counter to Elise's summon, when she raised her hand slowly, placing it on top of her Duel Disk.

Malik's mouth fell open. "What are you doing?"

"I surrender." … as if that wasn't obvious.

"Ah, so first you insult my dueling capabilities, and then you can't even bother to prove that I'm 'bad'?"

"Shut up! Can't you go one moment without having to bring me down to inflate your own ego?" Elise was raising her voice, nearing hysterics.

"I'm your _employer_!" Malik snapped in return.

"How?" Elise screamed. "How have you _employed_ me? I'm not getting _paid_ for this job; unless verbal, emotional, and physical abuse all count as a form of _payment_! If anything, I'm a servant. I'm nothing more than a simple _slave_!"

Malik grabbed onto the Sennen Rod, aiming it at Elise. His eyes narrowed. "I told you, I'm your -!"

"Do you even know what it's like? Do you know what it's like to be put down constantly; to feel like you're nothing more than an _object_, not even _human_? I _doubt it!_"

Malik's expression contorted to a strange sadness-anger mix. He appeared to be lost in thought.

"Anyway, I said I surrender. So you won. Be happy, and leave me alone." Elise turned on her heel, facing away from him. She plunked herself down on the floor, crossing her arms.

There was a pause, but soon the sound of footsteps announced Malik's exit. Elise glanced over her shoulder to make sure he really _had_ left, and then she crawled over to the necklace. The string was still broken from when Malik had snapped it off, but Elise drew it back around her neck and tied a makeshift knot.

She sat in silence for a moment before removing her Duel Disk and standing up. She threw her deck to the side, only keeping the Tri-Horned Dragon. She moved the hand holding the card up to her heart, hanging her head.

An image of Malik's sad-angry expression crept into her mind, and it slowly faded into an image of her parents. "I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, knowing no one would hear. She wasn't apologizing to anyone in particular, either. Perhaps she was even apologizing to herself for being such an idiot.

Unexpectedly, she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Taken by surprise, she not only jumped, but also cried out in shock. Looking up, she saw it was Rishid.

"Come along. We have to go."

"I don't understand," she replied. "Where are we going?"

Rishid blinked at her, with a look of 'you-should-know' on his face. "You're Malik-sama's 'girlfriend'."

"What do you –?" Elise began, but cut herself off sharply. Oh, god. When he was being 'Namu', she'd said they were dating. Malik must have reported that to Rishid. "Um, well, that means nothing, though."

"If you're his girlfriend, that means you would be supportive enough to go to the finals with him."

She gulped. "But I don't -!"

"We're leaving in ten minutes." Rishid dropped a pile of clothes at her feet – a shirt and some jeans, from the look of it. "You'd better be ready."


	9. Interlude: Head Clearing

**Interlude #1 – "Head Clearing"**

_Author's Note_: So… this isn't chapter nine, and I apologize ahead of time for that! But my friend, TDH (theduelistsheiress), suggested that I start with oneshots. However, instead of having a collection of oneshots being their own story, I decided to do this: little "interludes" between chapters if I find something to build on.

These will be used for insights into the characters' minds; points brought up in these interludes will be referred to in – or important for – later chapters.

You get to see inside Malik's thoughts for this interlude, and I hope the sudden change to first-person isn't too shocking, and also that I've kept him relatively in character considering the subject this is on. Anyway – enjoy, and please review. :)

* * *

I needed to clear my head.

This quite frequently proved to be much easier said than done. I often focused so much on clearing my mind that I would remind myself of what I intended to forget; as such, I would end up in a state of distress or anger. The aforementioned state meant I needed to clear my head even more.

In simpler terms for simpler minds, I already knew that this "head clearing" would end badly.

I paced around the deck of the boat, my feet landing much too heavily. My bitterness would have been extremely evident, had anyone been nearby, but I was alone. Part of me liked it that way… but that meant part of me didn't.

"_Do you even know what it's like?"_

Elise's voice repeated itself in my head as I closed my eyes. An image of the girl burned brightly behind my eyelids. Her eyes were wide and pained – pleading with me.

"… _to feel like you're nothing more than an _object_, not even _human_?"_

She'd said she doubted that I knew how it felt. Yet I had been unable to hide the sadness that had crept onto my face, mixing itself with the surprise and _hatred_ I'd felt as she accused me. Oh, I knew better than anyone what it felt like. I knew – in a way that Elise could not even begin to fathom.

I glanced toward the warehouse floor, hearing the sound of footsteps. No one was there, but I watched as the floor began to twist into an all-too-familiar hallway. I was lost in my own mind, my own memories… and helpless to stop it.

"_Rishid! Rishid!"_

_I felt my heart wrench terribly in my chest as I watched, as if from a third person perspective, myself – albeit a ten-year-old – getting pulled down that hallway. Rishid was unable to help; and for the longest time, though I would not admit it, I'd blamed him for being too weak._

_The scene wasn't third person anymore. It was my own memory as told by me, now. I had glanced over my shoulder, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Father… Father, please! I don't want this. Father!" I was choking on my own sobs, leading to my inability to speak coherently or properly._

_He'd made the same servants who'd dragged me down that cursed hallway pin me down. I remember a gag being placed in my mouth, and my screams became muted. I felt nothing – not even fear anymore. Glancing over my shoulder once more, my heart had sped up as I saw the smirk on my father's face. He was enjoying this…_

"No -!"

The memory shattered as I screamed out in reality, a hand wrapped around the ship's railing so tightly that my fist had begun aching. I caught myself mid-scream and stopped it short, breathing heavily. I was unable to stop myself from hoping that no one had heard – but Rishid came running almost instantly.

"Malik-sama!"

Our eyes met, and I was unable to suppress the sigh that escaped my lips as I calmed my breathing down.

"Is everything alright, Malik-sama?"

I turned away from him, shaking my head from side to side gently. "You worry too much for me. I'm fine, Rishid."

"Elise is getting ready to leave. I told her she has ten minutes." I could tell from his tone of voice that he was only changing the subject because he didn't believe me, but didn't want to bother me to speak.

I tapped my toe in a way I pretended was due to impatience, but really it was because of the sadness I felt at the mention of Elise's name.

There was something else there, too, however… it wasn't just sadness I felt. The other strange feeling that was there… I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, but I'd felt it before. I felt it quite often – around Elise, at the mention of her name…

… blasted hormones; it must be something to do with them.

"Thank you, Rishid," I hurriedly spoke upon remembering that he was expecting a reply. "You may go."

I turned to watch him leave, standing in silence for a while.

I had hated – still hated – my father. I knew I was nothing to him except the heir he had desired. My emotions, my thoughts, who I was – none of that had mattered.

My head was beginning to hurt. I needed ice cubes. My feet began moving almost as if they were on automatic.

"_Rishid?" The voice of myself as a child echoed dully through my head. In my mind, I could see myself looking up at Rishid. He seemed so tall; I must have only been seven or eight at the time I was asking. He looked down at me, forcing himself to smile._

"_What is it, Malik-sama?"_

"… _why does Father act the way he does toward you?"_

_Rishid had opened his mouth to answer, but never got the chance to. My sister walked into my room, a frown upon her face. The sadness in her eyes shocked me even then._

"_Malik, you know you shouldn't ask questions like that," she'd scolded me. I remember I had to hold back tears. I didn't like being scolded by Ishizu._

"_But, sister," I'd protested. She shook her head, and I almost remained silent, but a question had been on the end of my tongue. I couldn't stop myself from opening my mouth and asking, "Does he… does he actually love us, sister? Has he ever?"_

_Ishizu hadn't replied._

Without even being aware what I was doing, I had somehow made it to the freezer onboard the ship and had taken out a tray of ice cubes. I slammed it down on top of the counter beside the freezer. Most of the ice cubes fell out of the tray, and I popped one into my mouth.

Hm.

As the ice began to melt on my tongue, I felt almost instantly a _little_ bit calmer. This wasn't so bad, then.

"Let's lay down the facts," I mumbled.

I held a hand up in front of myself, extending my index finger up to the ceiling of the ship.

One. I was uncertain of my own emotions toward a certain female Ghoul, and I didn't like how that felt. I had to be aware of everything, and always in command. There was something about the fact that she was female and would listen to everything I said that I liked, something that fuelled the hunger for power inside of me. But that wasn't entirely it. _Dammit_, I needed to talk to Rishid.

Two. I extended my middle finger to have it join my index finger in the air. There were essentially only two Ghouls left now working for me. Rishid was receiving what one could call a "luxury treatment", whereas Elise was – ah, how had she put it? Oh yes. Elise was treated "lower than the dirt I stood on".

There appeared to be a fair difference in the way those two were treated, which brought me to fact number three. I didn't bother raising another finger and instead dropped my hand to the counter, where it subconsciously popped another ice cube into my mouth.

If Elise was treated even a _sliver_ of how I was treated by my father… both of my hands clenched into fists at my next thought. _No one_ deserved to feel like that.

Dammit, was I feeling _sympathetic_ for the girl? I appeared to be going soft, seeing as how I was acting… kindly, for lack of better words.

How amusing!

Unable to help myself any longer, I burst out laughing, the sound of it echoing throughout the kitchen.

However… well, seeing as how Elise and Rishid would both be accompanying me to the Battle City finals, I may as well treat her a _little_ bit better. As it were, it was her own fault she had to tag along.

"_We're dating."_

I started to walk to the deck of the boat so I could disembark.

"_You know, Master, they say women are only good for one thing_…"

I froze mid-step as I realized what that Ghoul had meant by "one thing". Of course, I knew at the time, but now…

I suddenly knew what the feeling I felt toward Elise was, and I was not impressed with myself at all.

Rishid was right about the hormones, but he'd never mentioned _lust_.


End file.
